Monthly Archives: October 2016

Black people are art, and our beautiful melanin skin is the ultimate canvas. We are always being plagiarized, muted, and whitened but each one of us are a masterpiece and together, we make an original collection.

Afropunk

As our Black collective image evolves, there is so much fluidity and room for expression. We are the most unique beings on the earth. We are magic. There is nothing that we can do with our hair that can be considered wrong. There is no shade of skin that is too black, too ochre, too mahogany. Whatever the skin type, whatever the hair curl pattern or coil, whatever the thickness of the hips or the lips; we are walking art. The person who was holding the paintbrush was trying to paint over us, now we are holding the paintbrush. I see our true colours shining through. You do you, be you. Be weird. Be emotional. Be angry. Be happy. Be Black, and know, there is no wrong way to be Black. There is nothing that can define you, but you. Create your own identity and look in the mirror at the canvas of your divinity, or the powers you possess. Our hair is art. Our skin is art. Everything else is just a backdrop to our phenomenal being.

So, I’m in love with bantu knot hairstyles. It epitomizes African creativity and aesthetics, and is a unique style all of our own. But damn–it’s not easy to slay. I am not a tactile person. I can barely put the couch pillows together the right way on the first (and second) try, much less attempt this elaborate hairstyle! But I’m not giving up until I have thick, sturdy Bantu knots that look proper, and not like melting candle wax.

I want to thank social media for all the beautiful Black women who are embracing natural hair! Without that network of sisthren, I don’t think I’d have reached a consciousness of how exclusive and exquisite African hairstyles are. I certainly wouldn’t have had the confidence to rock something as Afrocentric as Bantu knots if it weren’t for the trailblazers before me, and of course, our sisthren in the Motherland who we can always turn to for influence and insight into creating that African identity out here, and remembering who we are.

Eris the Planet on YouTube (photo above) makes Bantus look effortless. *side eye*. here is the link to check out her pretty style. And who doesn’t love Bantus? They are unapologetically African, a protective style and creates a second style when you’re done with the knots (the pretty Bantu knot-out).